By Christina Radish
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Chris Tucker at the Rush Hour 3 premiere held at Grauman's Chinese Theatre in Hollywood, Calif. on July 30, 2007. |
In New Line Cinema’s Rush Hour 3, Jackie Chan and Chris Tucker reunite with director Brett Ranter for an all-new adventure that takes them to Paris, where they confront deadly Triads (the most powerful and notorious crime syndicate in the world), beautiful women, an angry cab driver and an invasive French inspector to uncover the secret at the heart of the Triad syndicate. They don’t know the city, the language or even exactly what they’re looking for, but their quest takes them across the city, from the depths of the Paris underground to the heights of the Eiffel Tower, as they fight to outrun the world’s most deadly criminals and save the day.
Since making their debut as partners in 1998's Rush Hour, Chan and Tucker have become the world's most entertaining, and unlikely, duo. The dynamic, explored in all three films, stems from not only a clash of cultures, languages and personal styles, but also the affection and camaraderie between the two actors. Now six years after the release of Rush Hour 2, Tucker admits to MediaBlvd Magazine that it took a bit of coaxing to get him back in front of the camera again.
MediaBlvd Magazine> Why were you so picky and why did it take you so long to get back in front of the camera?
Chris Tucker> A lot of things came my way that really didn’t spark my interest, so I decided to step back and travel the world. I went on a lot of great trips because people knew who I was, and because of my celebrity and fame. I went on trips with Bono, Clinton and Colin Powell, and I went to Oprah Winfrey’s thing in Africa. It just made me realize that it’s a big world out there. I went to places in Uganda that don’t have clean water because an animal died in the water supply and they need $50 to $100 to build a pump to get fresh water, and little girls walk all day to get a bucket of water for their families. Those things made me appreciate what we have here, in America. I used to brush my teeth with Evian and Figi water because I didn’t want to use the sink water, and I don’t do that anymore. I went to Ethiopia and saw a room full of infants and babies. Some of them were blind, and most of them were crying, and I said, “What can I do? This problem is just too big.” Two nuns took care of all these young babies. One of them used to work under Mother Theresa and she said, that Mother Theresa said, “Every raindrop creates an ocean.” And, by that, I think she meant that, if everybody just took their part, then this problem wouldn’t be so big. We could solve a lot of these issues in the world. So, that’s what I’ve been doing. Now, George Clooney and Don Cheadle are doing stuff in Darfur, which is great. If you do your part, other people will see what you are doing, and they will use their fame and their celebrity in a much more powerful way than just being famous and getting a whole bunch of money for themselves.
MediaBlvd> So, your priorities have changed.
Chris> Yeah. I just decided to step back and, when you step back, you open yourself up to a whole other world. Now, I have these great friends, like Clinton and the King of Jordan, and all these great people, who I would never have encountered, if I had just been out for myself. If I wanted to make as many movies as I could, so that I could make all the money in the world, I wouldn’t have this great life. I get more out of the people in Africa then I can give them. All I do is show up and they say, “Chris Tucker! Thank you for coming. What are you doing all the way over here?” And, they show me life is special because they don’t have a lot, but they have a lot of love, and they appreciate life because they don’t have a lot. It’s hard to get a glass of water or food, so it makes me appreciate what I have. When I give, I always receive. Even in my movies, if I can make someone laugh, that’s giving. And, when I watch a movie, I want someone to make me forget about my problems.
MediaBlvd> Do you need humor to deal with some of those tragic situations?
Chris> You need humor and love. Every time I see a kid smile because he’s seen my movie -- because these movies travel all over the world -- that makes me feel good inside. I just think that’s natural healing. It makes them feel good because it’s like, “Look at this guy. I’ve only seen him on film and now he’s all the way over here.” It’s a real spiritual moment. And, comedy is the same way because that’s a natural healing. When you hear good music, it changes your mood. Laughter is even greater healing.
MediaBlvd> Then why make Rush Hour 3 now?
Chris> I think the timing is great. This summer, there are all these part threes that are doing great. It wasn’t planned. What convinced me was the script. It took awhile to get it together because we never planned on doing a part two or three. The studio figured it would make some more money. Everybody thought we were doing another Rush Hour, but it was never planned. The studio came to me and said, “Let’s do another Rush Hour,” and I said, “Okay, what are we going to do? Where are we going to go? How are these characters going to get together?” I said, “It’s got to be believable, how we get back together,” because in the last movie, we both went on to New York, but it’s been too long a time since New York, so that wouldn’t have been realistic. I got older and Jackie got older, so we decided to have Jackie come back to the States. Then, they bump into each other in the alley. That was our idea. And, I said, “Let’s go to Paris!” That way, we would both be fish out of water. They wanted to go to Hawaii, but we all agreed on Paris. We thought that would be the best place. Then, it was a process of making our schedules work. Brett was doing X-Men 3, Jackie was doing 200 other movies, and I was off in Africa with no phone service. These movies show you that two guys from two different cultures can get to know one another and laugh at each other and all these stereotypes. There is nothing wrong with being different. That’s what makes it special.
MediaBlvd> One of the running gags has been how your character constantly gets on Jackie’s character’s nerves. If you met someone like Carter, how long would it be until you just went crazy?
Chris> Carter is kind of out there. He likes to have fun. He was used to working by himself, but now he’s used to working with Lee because they became brothers and friends. Carter has more action scenes in this movie, he has a love interest with French actress Noemie Lenoir, and he’s trying to speak Chinese, so I wanted all those things to try and make him evolve a little bit. Instead of being the same character in Rush Hour 2, it just makes him a bit more exciting. But, I would be able to get along with Carter. Carter’s cool. I always put a lot of me in these characters.
MediaBlvd> How has the relationship between you and Jackie evolved since the first movie?Chris> It’s great. In the first movie, we really didn’t understand each other. We met in a meeting, so he could meet me and agree to do Rush Hour. He didn’t know who I was because I was an up-and-coming comedian. He knew who Eddie Murphy was, and people like that. I was talking to him the whole meeting, but he didn’t say anything. I didn’t know if he spoke English or not. I asked Brett, “Does he speak English? Because he’s not talking.” And, he said, “Don’t worry, he’ll learn English by the time we start filming.” I said, “I can’t be funny if he don’t speak English,” and he said, “I’m just joking. He speaks English. That’s just his culture. He’s just feeling you out.” Then, I didn’t see him until we started filming. We went to the set and that’s how I came up with, “Do you understand the words that are coming out of my mouth?” I just played the movie like real life, and that’s how our friendship is. In the first movie, he was a fish out of water in America. In the second movie, I’m fish out of water in Hong Kong. And, in this movie, we’re both fish out of water in Europe and Paris. We were brothers in this movie. Of course, we get in a little argument, but then we make up. It’s like real life. I surprised him right before I signed on to do Rush Hour 3. I went to Hong Kong. I flew out there on my own, and I called him from the airport and said, “Jackie, I’m in Hong Kong,” and he said, “You in Hong Kong! We hang out tonight! I come get you!” So, we hung out and did all that, just like in the movie.
MediaBlvd> Are you going to be taking another long break from filming movies, or is there another project out there you might do relatively soon?
Chris> I want to work. I don’t plan on taking a long break because there are a lot of things I want to do. One of the things I want to do is a stand-up comedy movie because a lot of my fans haven’t seen my stand-up and don’t know that I came from a stand up background. I want to do what Eddie Murphy did with Raw, or what Richard Pryor did with Live In Long Beach and Live on the Sunset Strip. Every comedian wants to do that and get that out there. And, I’ve got another project that I’ve been working on for a couple of years now, called Mr. President. I’ll be playing the first black President in a comedy and, since the election is coming up, I thought it would be fun. I poke a lot of fun at a lot of things in that movie.
MediaBlvd> Would the stand-up movie would follow you everywhere?
Chris> Yeah. It will show behind-the-scenes, but mainly be my live stand-up on stage. I want to do a little something different -- maybe film some scenes for the movie. I’ll have some surprise stuff.
MediaBlvd> What will your stand-up routine be about?
Chris> I would love to talk about working with Jackie. People love to hear about that. People love to hear about making movies. They love it when I talk about my early movie, Friday. And, I have an 8-year-old son now. I can talk about how that changed me, and how it is being famous now.
MediaBlvd> How did fatherhood change you?
Chris> It takes you awhile to realize you’re a father. It’s like, “I’m a father! Somebody’s depending on me!” It’s different. But, it changed me in a good way because it really opens up a different side of you because you have somebody depending on you. You’re more cautious. Being famous, I took it as a responsibility because I didn’t want to lead kids down the wrong way and give out the wrong advice. People really do look up to you and say, “Well, if he does it, it’s okay.” You’ve got to take that into consideration. Kids and adults are watching. If they like you enough, they’ll say, “Well, he’s an alcoholic, I can drink too. That’s cool.” I don’t want to put out bad things.
MediaBlvd> Does your son want to be a comedian like you?
Chris> I don’t know. I think he might want to do it. He’s in this movie. He’s in the Karate scene. He’s the only black kid in it. He has the pretty smile. He might want to do it now that he’s got the bug.
MediaBlvd> What about Rush Hour 4?
Chris> If the fans want to see another one, we’ll have to think about it and work on a script, and make it even better than this one. But, Jackie told me, “I chased you for five or six years! This time you call me!” So, if this one does good, I’ll just go write a script with a writer and come up with it real fast. I’ll have a script all ready, and then get it to the studio, as soon as they start talking about doing Rush Hour 4.
MediaBlvd> Are there any superhero roles you’d like to take a crack at?
Chris> I’ve been thinking about The Flash, or Green Lantern. I heard he was black. I don’t know. I’d like to do something fun.
MediaBlvd> Where do you see your career going?
Chris> I think more developing and producing and directing. I don’t have a producer credit on this movie because I don’t need it, but I’m involved with making it make sense. It’s like that with a lot of my projects because I like to participate. Even if I’m wrong, I just want to keep throwing ideas out there.
MediaBlvd> What do you think would be the weirdest country for Carter and Lee to end up in?
Chris> Dubai. I like Dubai because it’s a new city. You’ve never really seen people film there. It’s somewhere fresh.
MediaBlvd> What’s the most amazing thing that you’ve seen Jackie do, stunt-wise?
Chris> Oh, man, I have seen him do crazy stuff. I like the way he has a vision about something. He knows all the shots and he’ll do them all, and you’ll go, “Whoa, that’s sweet!,” because you didn’t expect it. You didn’t know where it was going. I like his vision.
MediaBlvd> Would you ever do another Friday film?
Chris> Everybody wants me to do another one, but I always like to leave movies as they are. That movie is a cult classic and I don’t ever want to mess it up, so I’m gonna leave it alone, especially now. I want to keep moving on and doing something different. Rush Hour is different because it’s an action/comedy, and you can keep doing those kinds of movies in different locations. But, Friday is a special movie because we filmed it in 20 days. That’s no time. And it cost about $2 million. That’s considered a low budget movie. All we had was to try and make something funny. So, I probably won’t do another one, but they have done two or three more.
MediaBlvd> Any interest in playing a romantic lead, or doing a drama?
Chris> I want to do it all because I don’t think my fans have seen other sides of me. They’ve seen me do Dead Presidents, which was a smaller part, and a spaced out character in Fifth Element. I’ve got a lot of range. A lot of comedians can’t do all that. They don’t have that much range. I can pretty much do it all, so I’m ready to do it.
MediaBlvd> What about writing and directing?
Chris> Yeah, I want to do that because I feel like I’m already doing the writing because I’m pitching ideas. Directing would be something I could do, too, but with the right people around me because it’s a lot of responsibility.
